Shaped charges, lead-free liners, and methods for making lead-free liners
A liner for a shaped charge may consist essentially of dendritic copper powder compressed under sufficient pressure to cause the dendritic copper powder to behave as a nearly solid mass. A shaped charge may include a housing and a quantity of explosive provided in the housing. A liner is positioned in the housing so that the explosive is located between the liner and the housing. The liner is compressively formed from a mixture of dendritic copper powder and a lubricant, the mixture comprising from about 90 percent by weight to less than 100 percent by weight dendritic copper powder and from more than 0 percent by weight to about 10 percent by weight lubricant.
1 . A liner for a shaped charge consisting essentially of a mixture of dendritic copper powder and a lubricant compressed under sufficient pressure to cause said mixture to behave as a nearly solid mass.
2 . The liner of claim 1 , wherein said lubricant comprises one or more selected from the group consisting essentially of graphite and lithium stearate.
3 . The liner of claim 1 , wherein said mixture comprises from about 90 percent by weight to less than 100 percent by weight dendritic copper powder and from more than 0 percent by weight to about 10 percent by weight lubricant.
4 . The liner of claim 1 , wherein said mixture comprises about 98 percent by weight dendritic copper and about 2 percent by weight lubricant.
5 . The liner of claim 1 , further comprising less than about 5 weight percent metal powder additive, said metal powder additive comprising one or more selected from the group consisting essentially of molybdenum and tungsten.
6 . The liner of claim 1 , wherein said dendritic copper powder comprises electrolytically-deposited copper powder.
7 . A method for producing a liner for a shaped-charge explosive, comprising:
providing a mixture consisting essentially of dendritic copper powder and a lubricant; and
compressing said mixture under sufficient pressure to cause said mixture to behave as a nearly solid mass.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein said compressing comprises a cold compaction process.
9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein said compressing comprises hot isostatic pressing.
10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein said compressing comprises cold isostatic pressing.
11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein said compressing comprises applying to the mixture a pressure of about 30 tsi.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein said compressing imparts to said liner a green strength in a range of about 3800 psi to about 5000 psi.
13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein said compressing imparts to said liner a green density in a range of about 7 g/cc to about 8 g/cc.
14 . The method of claim 7 , wherein providing a mixture further comprises:
providing a supply of dendritic copper powder;
providing a supply of lubricant;
mixing together a portion of said supply of dendritic copper power and a portion of said supply of lubricant to produce said mixture.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein mixing together further comprises mixing from about 90 percent by weight to less than 100 percent by weight said dendritic copper powder and from more than 0 percent by weight to about 10 percent by weight said lubricant.
16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein mixing together further comprises mixing about 98 percent by weight said dendritic copper powder and about 2 percent by weight said lubricant.
17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein mixing together further comprises mixing about 99 percent by weight said dendritic copper powder and about 1 percent by weight said lubricant.
18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein providing a supply of dendritic copper powder comprises providing a supply of electrolytically deposited copper powder, and wherein providing a supply of lubricant comprises providing a supply of lubricant comprising one or more selected from the group consisting of lithium stearate and graphite.
19 . A liner for a shaped charge comprising at least 70% by weight dendritic copper powder.
20 . The liner of claim 19 , further comprising a lubricant.
21 . The liner of claim 20 , wherein said lubricant comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of graphite and lithium stearate.
22 . The liner of claim 20 , wherein said lubricant comprises from more than 0 percent by weight to about 10 percent by weight.
23 . A shaped charge comprising:
a housing;
a quantity of explosive provided in said housing; and
a liner provided in said housing so that said explosive is located between said liner and said housing, said liner being compressively formed from a mixture of dendritic copper powder and a lubricant, said mixture comprising from about 90 percent by weight to less than 100 percent by weight said dendritic copper powder and from more than 0 percent by weight to about 10 percent by weight said lubricant.
24 . The shaped charge of claim 23 , wherein said mixture comprises about 99 percent by weight said dendritic copper powder and about 1 percent by weight said lubricant.
25 . The shaped charge of claim 23 , wherein said explosive comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of RDX, HMX, and HNS.
26 . A liner for a shaped charge consisting essentially of dendritic copper powder compressed under sufficient pressure to cause said dendritic copper powder to behave as a nearly solid mass.
27 . The liner of claim 26 , further comprising a lubricant mixed with said dendritic copper powder.
28 . The liner of claim 27 , wherein said lubricant comprises one or more selected from the group consisting essentially of lithium stearate and graphite.
29 . A powder mixture consisting essentially of dendritic copper powder and a lubricant, said lubricant having a percent by weight which lies in a range from more than 0 percent to less than 10 percent, a remaining percent by weight of said mixture being said dendritic copper powder.
30 . The powder mixture of claim 29 , wherein said lubricant comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of lithium stearate and graphite.
31 . The powder mixture of claim 29 further comprising a green strength in a range of about 3800 psi to about 5000 psi when said powder mixture is compressed under a pressure of about 30 tsi.
32 . The powder mixture of claim 29 further comprising a green density in a range of about 7 g/cc to about 8 g/cc when said powder mixture is compressed under a pressure of about 30 tsi.